The elf and the goblin mutant
by Oblivian03
Summary: Gloin tells his son the story of how the company reclaimed Erebor, including the words of what a certain blonde elf said to him. If you haven't seen The Desolation of Smaug and the Lord of the Rings, this won't make much sense. Two shot. No slash.
1. Meeting

**I do not own the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings.**

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**As mentioned before in the blurb, if you have not seen the Desolation of Smaug AND the Lord of the Rings, this will make no sense as it refers to things from both of them. In any case, this was just a little something I thought up from a line that Legolas said in DOS. It is not the best quality, but then it wasn't meant to be, just something to get an idea out of my head - like a hundred word drabble, only longer. **

**Enjoy.**

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"We gave those spiders a good beating," Gloin said, miming the action of braining one of the massive foes he was describing to his son, "And everything was under control until those elves came along."

"Then what happened?" Gimli asked, his eyes blinking up from a mess of red hair not unlike his father's, "Did you give the elves a beating as well?"

Gloin threw back his head and laughed merrily, leaning against the back of his chair as he did so.

"Oh no, my lad," he said heartily ruffling his child's hair as he did so, "You know how it goes. It was them who gave us a beating, or nearly so in any case. They took us captive, each and every one of us save our burglar who was nowhere to be found."

Gimli sat enthralled in the story, the lights of the candles flickering inside the richly decorated chamber of Erebor which had been gifted to Gloin along with his share of the gold.

"There was one elf who was haughty and arrogant more than most," Gloin continued, "He questioned me something terrible, insulting me in the way only an elf knew how."

"What did he say?" Gimli crowed breathlessly as his father swung him around upside down. The youth knew the story; had been told it many times before yet each time Gloin parted with the events of his journey it was as if the dwarfling were hearing it for the first time.

"Who's this? Your brother?" Gloin yelled in good humour as he held his son's ankles in one hand, struggling to tickle the stomach of the struggling youth with his other.

"That's my wife," Gimli shouted back, laughing as he done so.

"And who's this? Goblin mutant?" Gloin roared.

"That's my wee lad, Gimli!" Gimli all but bellowed before both of them broke down even further in laughter. The two redheads soon sobered up again and, at no little prompting from his son, Gloin continued his story.

"The elf then locked us in the dungeons and it was not until later we learned he was the son of Thranduil, king of the woodland elves. Our burglar was the one to get us out, having slipped away at the last moment…"

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"What happened to the elf who was the king's son?" Gimli asked as his father tucked him under the covers of his bed, the story finished earlier that evening. Gloin rubbed his beard.

"He still lives," the dwarf answered, "Even killed the Defiler's son in the battle for Erebor."

"Did you ever manage to pay the elf back for the comment he made?" Gimli questioned, not wanting to go to sleep just yet much to Gloin's displeasure.

"No, I did not," he growled, "Now go to sleep, lad, or your mother will have both our heads."

Gimli obeyed his father, closing his eyes, and soon enough the child fell asleep. Gloin sighed and brushed his lips to the lad's forehead. The elf's comment had made him burn with anger, anger that had still not abated with time. Dwarves did not take insults to their families lightly. Still, there was nothing he could do for Gloin was hardly going to go to Mirkwood to sort out his differences. One journey through that forest was enough.

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Gimli stared up at the elf in front of him, not happy that he was to endure the arrogant being for the entire journey to destroy the ring. Legolas was the elf's name he had been told, not that the red bearded dwarf cared.

"How's your father these days?" Gandalf asked of the blonde elf. Gimli rolled his eyes at the small talk.

"Thranduil is well. Disagreeable at times, but well," Legolas replied and it was at these words that Gimli froze.

"Thranduil?" he repeated slowly.

"You could say that Legolas here is a prince, master Gimli," Gandalf called from the front. Gimli eyed the 'prince' darkly.

"Do you have a problem?" the elf asked as the company continued to move on, the blonde drawing up to the notably shorter being. Gimli bit back a growl and opened his mouth to answer.

"Goblin mutant, huh?"

Legolas stared at him for a moment before shaking his head.

"As witless as ever I see, master dwarf," he said before walking off.

"The bloody elf doesn't remember," Gimli said in disbelief as he watched the shrinking back of the blonde, "But what can you expect from one of his kind?"

"Don't worry, Gimli," Aragon said from behind him, "He just takes some getting used to. You'll learn to like him eventually."

"That'll be the day," the red bearded dwarf snorted as he hefted the axe on his shoulder and glared in the direction of the blonde elf.

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**Please review.**


	2. Apologies

**Due to popular demand, I give you a second chapter taking place after the defeat of Sauron. It may not be the best, but I hope you like it (again it is just a short sort of drabble).**

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Legolas rubbed his eyes as he looked at the door before him.

"Are you sure I must do this?" he asked, not really wanting to befriend the father of the only dwarf with whom he had made friends.

"Come now," Gimli said from beside the tall blonde, "It is not that hard to say a small greeting and bump heads, though you may need to bend down a little. It is certainly not as hard as the last battle we fought, however."

Legolas grinned at the memory. Sauron was defeated at long last, truly defeated with the destruction of the one ring of power. It had not been an army that had defeated him either, rather a small hobbit with no experience whatsoever in the aspect of fighting one as evil as he.

_An even bitterer blow to the dark lord_, Legolas though with no small amount of glee. His face then fell as another thought breached his mind. _Why in Valor's name must I meet Gimli's adar? _

"He may not take to you warmly at first," the redhead beside him was saying, "But don't be disheartened. He should warm up to you eventually."

"I take it your father is not akin to elves," Legolas observed in a dry voice.

"His experience with them was unsavoury to say the least," Gimli replied.

"I wonder why?" Legolas asked, truly curious about the matter. Gimli gave him a strange look before taking in a deep breath and knocking on the door.

"Well," he said slowly, "Here it goes."

The odd looking pair waited in anticipation as the door was opened, a white bearded and stooped dwarf lord answering it, pulling it open to expose the insides of his chamber. Legolas gave a polite smile as he stared at the being before him.

The dwarf before him looked familiar. The beard and the nose seemed to be imprinted on his brain for some unknown reason and he was sure he had seen the dwarf's glaring eyes sometime in the past. The blonde elf stared into their dark depths deeper and suddenly it hit him as to where and when he had seen the shorter being whose face was turning quite rapidly from red to a dark and dangerous purple.

"You," Gloin growled menacingly.

"Ah," was all Legolas could reply.

"What?" Gimli said from behind them, sounding slightly flabbergasted at the sight before him. Legolas watched as Gloin turned to his son, fury evident on his face.

"Do you not know just who this _elf_ is?" he asked in a voice clearly filled with distain.

"He is my friend," Gimli replied.

"He is the one who insulted me, you and your mother," Gloin shot back.

"I know," Gimli said, trying to bring the matter back into a more optimistic light, "But he is not as haughty as you say he was before and he did save my life a couple of times on the journey. Besides, he seems to have forgotten-"

"FORGOTTEN?" Gloin roared in outrage. To Legolas' credit, he did not back up a step though his face did look somewhat abashed.

"If I may interject here," the blonde elf began avoiding the dark look sent to him by Gimli's father, "I have not quite forgotten." Gimli stared at him in disbelief.

"But when I asked you about it you did not respond," he cried.

"Ah, yes," Legolas said slowly, "But to your own fault you did just ambush me with a string of words which at the time made no sense."

"You called me a witless dwarf," Gimli accused.

"You were acting like one," Legolas counted, "And besides, is that not better than being called a goblin mutant."

Gloin, throughout all this, looked as if he were going to explode.

"What is stopping me from throwing you off my doorstep at this moment I don't know but-"

"Come father," Gimli interjected, "He is sorry for the insults he gave you, aren't you Legolas?" The elf did not need an elbow in the ribs to respond.

"Aye, I am truly sorry at the misunderstanding," Legolas answered, bowing slightly as he did so to show the sincerity of his apology. Gloin regarded him blankly for a few moments before turning to Gimli.

"You may enter my son," he said, "Your _friend _may not."

"Father," Gimli said sternly, "Legolas is a renowned hero throughout Middle-Earth, both of his people and the other races who dwell here. Surely you would not refuse to offer hospitality to him due to some slander he paid you years ago when he was led more by his own young and foolish ways." This earned the young dwarf an elbow in the ribs from the elf by his side. Gimli, however, remained straight faced as he stared his father down.

"You may come in," Gloin finally relented with a dark look cast towards his son. Legolas gave the old dwarf his most charming smile.

"And how, may I ask, is your brother?" Legolas asked, "Whom, might I add, looked astonishingly handsome in the picture in that locket of yours."

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**Please review (sorry if you are disappointed). I appreciate the ones who have already done so for the last chapter.**


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